10/13/04

Four finalists announced for AP's first Chairman's Prize

NEW YORK -- Four finalists were announced Wednesday for The Chairman's Prize, an Associated Press staff award program created this year to foster creative thinking, performance breakthroughs and entrepreneurial changes that affect the AP or the news industry. The ideas presented by the finalists are: the creation of a dedicated, multi-location live video news feed, the enhancement of an internationally deployed news production system, the development of a comprehensive package of services for the 2004 elections in the United States, and the design of the multimedia-integrated newsroom at AP's new headquarters in New York.

"Celebrating creativity and innovative thinking is the goal of this award along with recognizing AP people who come up with great ideas," AP President and CEO Tom Curley said. "This first group of finalists demonstrates the breadth of breakthrough work being done." The finalists were selected by a committee of AP managers.

The winner will be selected by Burl Osborne, chairman of the AP board of directors, and former chairmen Frank Batten, Frank Daniels, William Keating and Donald Newhouse. The winner will be announced Nov. 18, along with a monetary award commensurate with the winning idea, at the AP Recognition Dinner at the new West 33rd Street headquarters.

This year's finalists for The Chairman's Prize, which was open to both individuals and teams nominated by their colleagues:

-- a team in London that created APTN Direct, a dedicated, multi-location live video news feed providing coverage worldwide from wherever events unfold;

-- a team in Washington, D.C., and London that substantially enhanced AP's Electronic News Production System (ENPS) in 2004;

-- a U.S. team that developed a comprehensive package of services for members and customers for the 2004 elections in America;

-- AP Deputy Managing Editor Tom Kent, credited with the design of AP's multimedia-integrated newsroom at the new headquarters. Founded in 1848, The Associated Press is the world's oldest and largest newsgathering organization, providing content to more than 15,000 news outlets with a daily reach of 1 billion people around the world. Its multimedia services are distributed by satellite and the Internet to more than 120 nations.